The warm rain has been running down the colorful façade of the building in the street Eunos Ave 3 for hours. Such contin­uous rain is unusual for Singa­pore, says Giacomo Rinaldi. It is also quite unusual that the Managing Director of Uhlmann Singa­pore is in his office on this day.

Uhlmann Singa­pore LLP is respon­sible for sales and services relating to Uhlmann prod­ucts, the produc­tion of the Blister machine B 1240 and the Cartoner C 130. They also promote the full range of Uhlmann machines from Laupheim as well as Wonder machines in the Asia-Pacific region.

It follows that the Managing Director travels a lot. The same applies to the Tech­nical Director, Florian Weiher. Taking the distances he flew last year to visit Germany and the area he covers, he could have gone round the world three and a half times.

Uhlmann opened the subsidiary in the city state Singa­pore in 2001. Weiher, who comes from near Laupheim, swapped alter­nating seasons for constant summery temper­a­tures and extreme humidity in 2012. Giacomo Rinaldi was appointed Managing Director of Uhlmann Singa­pore in July 2019. The native Italian gained profes­sional expe­ri­ence in Asia during previous years with this former employer. “What I value about Asia as a whole is the lively spirit. What often strikes me about Europe is that the past frequently plays a greater role than the future. The atti­tude in Asia is more along the lines: today is a good day, but tomorrow will be an even better one”, says Giacomo Rinaldi

Today is a good day, but tomorrow will be an even better one.

The day begins at 9 am for the Uhlmann Singa­pore work­force, provided that employees are not involved in produc­tion of the Blister machine B 1240 or the Cartoner C 130. Those in a time zone seven hours ahead of the company head­quar­ters can safely make a later start because corre­spon­dence with Laupheim can wait until after lunch; or until after the after­noon tea break – a reminder of the British colo­nial era. Our Singa­pore loca­tion does not have a canteen, but the colleagues can eat their way around the whole world in the snack bars and restau­rants. The inter­na­tion­ality of Singa­pore is reflected in the range of food avail­able.

The Uhlmann world in Singa­pore

The world of the Uhlmann Group is repre­sented in Singa­pore at the address 107 Eunos Ave 3 by approx­i­mately 75 persons. In addi­tion to 43 Uhlmann employees, who also market the Wonder port­folio, Group Company colleagues from Koch and Cremer, as well as from the Excel­lence United partner compa­nies Fette Compacting and Harro Höfliger, work here.

Deal­ings with one another are most polite and coop­er­a­tive. “The compa­nies are phys­i­cally sepa­rate in the building and during customer visits everyone repre­sents the company they work for. However, everyone can ask anyone, we use the same kitch­enettes, for example, and we also under­take things together”, explains Florian Weiher, refer­ring to the group spirit in Singa­pore. Last year, for instance, a visit to the beer festival of the Swiss Club Singa­pore was on the agenda. “Singa­pore is a melting pot – living and working together works”, adds Giacomo Rinaldi.

In his posi­tion as Managing Director, Giacomo Rinaldi partic­u­larly wants to impart a vision to his staff. “I admire the remark­able work disci­pline here. Everyone wants to contribute some­thing to the good of the company, everyone is goal-oriented. It is impor­tant to set clear targets.”

Other markets, other customs

Top priority for Uhlmann Singa­pore is agility and the ability to respond flex­ibly to customer wishes. A profound under­standing of how the Asian market func­tions is helpful. “When one comes from Europe – from Germany, for example, with its strong engi­neering tradi­tion – it seems strange. But here the best possible machine from a tech­no­log­ical stand­point is not neces­sarily the best possible solu­tion for the customer if the primary need is mainly coming from agility, ease of use and flex­i­bility. Being fast is in Asia is often­times more impor­tant than being 100 percent right”, explains Giacomo Rinaldi.

The customers served by Uhlmann Singa­pore range from phar­ma­ceu­tical giants to small contract packers. Uhlmann Singa­pore does work with repre­sen­ta­tives in the indi­vidual coun­tries, but some­times it is neces­sary for the Tech­nical Director to put in a personal appear­ance. “With my blond hair and blue eyes, I prob­ably personify the notion of a German engi­neer”, says Florian Weiher with a smile.

On account of the size of Uhlmann Singa­pore, he enjoys being able to support Sales in addi­tional to his respon­si­bil­i­ties as Tech­nical Director. In any case, together with his wife and child, he feels comfort­able in the island state that is just about the size of the munic­ipal area of Hamburg. Only moun­tains and open expanses are things he misses. Giacomo Rinaldi, on his part, does not even have to miss out on Italian deli­ca­cies. On the one hand, his wife always brings some­thing with her from Italy. On the other hand, he simply likes what Singa­pore has to offer.